A Little Bit of Lately

It's been awhile. Where to start?
*I keep procrastinating this post for lack of new photos, but we're just gonna roll with it and steal some from other people (maybe even from you!)

First up, my trip to DC. At the last minute, I was invited to go out to DC with my current internship with The Institute for Research and Evaluation. The research for my internship primarily involves family and education issues. Since January, the main focus of my internship has been finding empirical evidence to support the efficacy of abstinence education health programs in public schools. I won't bore you with the details, but it has been a great experience to try to support a cause I really believe in--teen abstinence.


I attended a meeting at the Capitol on Obama's 100th Day in Office. It was definitely entertaining to be out in DC that day. Particularly, if you happened to be listening to conservative talk radio on your commute in to DC from Baltimore. It was a crack-up. On a less sarcastic note, meeting with the major abstinence education advocates from across the nation, networking, and lobbying to Congress members was a great way to bridge the gap between my experience in my political science major and my future hope of getting my Masters in Marriage and Family Therapy.

For several reasons, it was also an incredibly frustrating experience. For example, I flew all the way out to DC only to find out that I could not be involved in one of the main meetings I had planned to attend, the schedule for meetings was constantly changing, and of course, I was always the last to know. Luckily, I was staying with this cute couple:


Thank goodness for pizza and gelato at the end of a day of meetings. Hanging out with Nate and Briana alleviated all my frustration pretty quickly. At the risk of hatemail from Nate, it was pretty cute to watch him flirt with Briana since Jon and I missed out on most of their dating days. I owe the Weirs big time for letting me crash at their place and we're so excited for them to move back to Provo.

Speaking of cute couples, Phil and Angela are finally sealin the deal next month! They are adorable together and we are so excited for them. The guys batchelor partied last weekend and Jon had so much fun golfing, Diegoing, and man talking with Phil, Jess, Nate, Todd, Bruce, with a K, Shea, and probably some others that I can't think of right now. I really enjoyed finding a bridal shower gift for Angela and chatting with her and Rae Rae about how our men are the "boys who never grow up." Since Jon will likely be BFFs with these guys forever, I'm sure glad they've all made it a habit to marry such fabulous girls so far.


While we are on the note of wonderful women, the loveliest of lovelies, Ms. Hyer, took me to dinner the other night. Lucky me! She is choosing her debate officers right now so she asked me to come sit on her panel as an alumnus and help out. It was fun to think back on all my fun memories of debate and it made me a bit trunky for high school. Just a bit though. In all seriousness though, thank you Hyer for being such an amazing friend to me over the years. I loved our long overdue chat!


Oh, we also celebrated our first anniversary a few weeks ago. We made some plans and then broke them. We went to Chilis for lunch, checked into our room at the Hilton in SLC, and then sat down on the bed to map out the rest of the night. On the agenda: check out the pool/spa area for some mutual relaxation, walk around Salt Lake/Gateway, take "one year" photos outside the Salt Lake temple, have a romantic dinner at the Garden Restaurant at the Joseph Smith Memorial building... Well, this is so embarrassing. We got cuddled up on that dang bed--and we were out til 9 pm! There went all of our plans. Oh well, Plan B: share a rice bowl at Rumbi for dinner, eat a chocolate covered banana from Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory, sit in the hot tub with a bunch of drunks celebrating someone's wild 21st, and pass out watching a TV documentary on Will Smith. Wow, we are so lame! Jon got me new tennis shoes and I later gave him a bunch of skin care with tea tree oil. I guess practicality trumped sentiment this year. We did enjoy the day together.

Pic was from night before our anniversary--another fun celebration!
Congrats to Taylor and Meredith!
And thanks to Mike & Marci for the photo!

Me and Kimmy also finally got together for lunch at the Gateway. It was so fun to see Marley getting so big and cute and to chat with Kimmy. Love you girl!


Also a quick shout out to Dallas for getting engaged. We had a great time at their engagement party and really like Wendy! Dally, you done good!


Next weekend, Jon and I will be on a team for the American Cancer Association Relay For Life. We are excited to participate in an event to fight cancer, help with the fundraising, and honor cancer victims and survivors. The relay is next Friday night from 5 pm til 10 am because cancer never sleeps. If anyone feels inclined to make a donation to this cause, let me know. We are looking forward to it!

In other news, we are officially ADDICTED TO LOST. We started Season One a few weeks ago, and we are just about done with Season Two. Please tell me other people share in this awesome addiction?

Well, enough babbling for now. I've gotta run satisfy my sweet tooth.
For now, that's a little taste of lately.